07-01-2016, 01:52 PM
News of a mystery bidder for Oil Search's prey InterOil has triggered suggestions that former chief executive and deal opponent Phil Mulacek has got funding together to make a tilt himself for the Papua New Guinea gas explorer.
InterOil, advised by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS, is keeping tight-lipped about the identity of its new suitor, which approached it with "an unsolicited, conditional, non-binding proposal" to buy 100 per cent of the company.
The PNG player did a thorough test of the market to try to flush out takeover interest before settling on the friendly deal with Oil Search, which is offering to pay 8.05 of its own shares for each of InterOil's plus a "contingent value right" that would pay extra depending on how much gas is determined to be in its core asset, the undeveloped Elk-Antelope gas field.
ExxonMobil has also been touted as a potential rival for InterOil but is understood to have made an offer earlier that was at a lower value to Oil Search's.
In a detailed information circular issued overnight by InterOil, the company revealed it engaged with 36 parties during the process of exploring sale options and held negotiations with "a select group" of majors about a transaction before unanimously recommending the Oil Search offer, which is worth at least $US2.2 billion based on the value of Oil Search's shares when the deal was agreed on.
But Mulacek insists the friendly deal leaves billions of dollars on the table and significantly undervalues Elk-Antelope as well as InterOil's other gas finds in PNG, and has been working to derail it or get it improved.
Read more: http://www.afr.com/street-talk/interoil-...z4D7qxB3G2
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InterOil, advised by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS, is keeping tight-lipped about the identity of its new suitor, which approached it with "an unsolicited, conditional, non-binding proposal" to buy 100 per cent of the company.
The PNG player did a thorough test of the market to try to flush out takeover interest before settling on the friendly deal with Oil Search, which is offering to pay 8.05 of its own shares for each of InterOil's plus a "contingent value right" that would pay extra depending on how much gas is determined to be in its core asset, the undeveloped Elk-Antelope gas field.
ExxonMobil has also been touted as a potential rival for InterOil but is understood to have made an offer earlier that was at a lower value to Oil Search's.
In a detailed information circular issued overnight by InterOil, the company revealed it engaged with 36 parties during the process of exploring sale options and held negotiations with "a select group" of majors about a transaction before unanimously recommending the Oil Search offer, which is worth at least $US2.2 billion based on the value of Oil Search's shares when the deal was agreed on.
But Mulacek insists the friendly deal leaves billions of dollars on the table and significantly undervalues Elk-Antelope as well as InterOil's other gas finds in PNG, and has been working to derail it or get it improved.
Read more: http://www.afr.com/street-talk/interoil-...z4D7qxB3G2
Follow us: @FinancialReview on Twitter | financialreview on Facebook
